In this enlightening episode of The Flatline, join host Rick Hughes as he unpacks the widespread misconceptions surrounding godliness in the modern Christian world. With a focus on the importance of understanding and applying biblical doctrines, Rick takes listeners on a journey to discern the difference between superficial religious practices and true godliness. Emphasizing the teachings of the Apostle Paul and Peter, he explores the path to spiritual maturity through the study and application of Bible doctrine.
The episode also delves into the missteps of religious influence on social media, challenging the listener to look beyond commercialized definitions of a
Welcome to the Flatline with your host, Rick Hughes. For the next 30 minutes, you’ll be inspired, motivated, educated, but never manipulated. Now, your host, Rick Hughes.
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Good morning and welcome to the Flatline. I’m your host, Rick Hughes, and for the next few minutes, please stick around. Just a short time of inspiration, some motivation, some education, and no manipulation, no con games, not asking you for money. We’re not trying to sell you something. We’re not soliciting funds. We just want to give you some information, information that we believe will help you verify and identify God’s plan for your life. And if you’re interested, then you obviously have the freedom and the privacy to orient and adjust to the plan. Thank you for all those who have written recently. I love hearing from you. I’m so glad to find out you’re listening. We do broadcast in 110 cities every Sunday morning all the way from California to the great state of Maine. Thank you for listening. Thank you for writing and letting me know you’re there. You can always contact us through our website at rickhughesministries.org rickhughesministries.org or you can write us at P.O. Box 100 That’s post office box 100 in the big city of Cropwell, C-R-O-P-W-E-L-L, Cropwell, Alabama. And our zip code is 35054, Cropwell, Alabama, 35054. That’s between the city of Birmingham and Atlanta, so we’re not too far south. But thank you for listening. We want to remind you that we have a new book out called Christian Problem Solving called Basically, what it does is it lists each of the 10 problem-solving devices on the flight line of your soul. and gives you a brief description and understanding of what that divine problem-solving device is. So if you’d like to have a copy, let us know. We already have several hundred advanced copies coming out. We also have a new version of the book, A Divine Pardon. We made a few corrections. This is a book that we use for people that are incarcerated, and we have an organization called Philippi Freedom Ministries that we work with and distribute this book. so if you’re interested in the new book on divine pardon let us know that as well but come visit the website let us hear from you we value your prayer support very much today we’d like to talk about something that’s very interesting something that i hear quite a bit of and that’s just garbage it’s malarkey the recent trend of christian social media influencers that’s what i’m calling them trying to promote their own name recognition and sell their books or their music has spawned a vast confusion as to what it means to be a godly person. There’s hardly a day that goes by if I look at the internet that I don’t see people trying to pretend that they’re godly people. And they do some really weird stuff. But if someone searches the internet for what is a godly man or a godly woman, they will find thousands of books, thousands of videos on the subject. And most of them will tell you what a godly person does, but not exactly how to become one. Like the godly person prays, but no mechanics about prayer. It seems that mechanics of the Christian life have been forgotten in today’s pulpits and ministries. Obviously, writers love to talk about building relationships with other godly people, whatever a godly person is. And most get the right idea, but they water it down into some Christian godly gook that sounds good but says nothing. Of course, if you want the real scoop, you need to buy their book on how to be a godly person for $19.95. Recently, a wonderful Christian minister passed away, and remembering him, the writer talked about how many books he published, which is almost 50 books, and they, of course, were all for sale, but none really teaching the mechanics of how to stay in fellowship by means of the filling of the Holy Spirit. You know that as problem-solving device number one. Rebound. That’s how you’re filled with the Holy Spirit. Whenever you sin, you quench the Holy Spirit and you grieve the Holy Spirit. And when you rebound using 1 John 1, 9, if we confess our sin, he’s faithful and just to forgive us and purify us from all wrongdoing. That is how you get back in fellowship with God and stay in fellowship. Every time you sin, you must rebound because if you don’t, you’re going to quench the Spirit and grieve the Spirit and be out of fellowship. Very few people teach that. Perhaps you might wish to be known as one of these godly people. If so, what exactly do they expect out of you? Does it have anything to do with your sweet, pleasant personality? Never offending anybody? Oh, what a godly person that person is. They’re so sweet. How about your language? Does being a godly person mean you never utter any slang words or even any curse words? You can’t use terms like gosh darn or aw shucks, because that doesn’t really relate to other people. You’re godly, you’re godly. If you were godly, you wouldn’t use terms like that. It’s really silly, silly. Godliness has nothing to do with what you say. It has nothing to do with so many personalities, sweet, pleasing personalities. What about how you dress or how much makeup you wear? Does being a godly person mean you never wear a dress above your knees or you never get any tattoos? Is that what it means to be a godly person? The truth is being godly has nothing to do with those sort of things, but instead, excuse me, has everything to do with what you think. Godliness has everything to do with what you think. The apostle Peter had to learn a lesson in Acts chapter 10. And the lesson was about being spiritual, spirituality based on observing a ritual about food that he ate. And in this particular passage, Peter was taught by God in a vision that spirituality has nothing to do with religious observation. Listen carefully, he became hungry. In Acts chapter 10, he became hungry and he wanted something to eat. And while the meal was being prepared, he fell into a trance and he saw heaven open up and something like a large sheet being let down to earth by four corners. And it contained all sorts of four-footed animals as well as reptiles and birds. Now that includes pigs. And then a voice told him, get up, Peter, kill and eat. And of course, Peter being a cult godly person, no Lord, no, surely not. I’ve never eaten anything like that. Never eaten anything impure, unclean. And then the voice spoke to him a second time. Don’t call anything impure that God has made clean. This happened three times and immediately the sheet was taken back into heaven. From this, we learn something that all food is good to eat if you sanctify it in prayer. This is a small mistake many believers make when saying the blessing before the meal. Not just good food, good meat, getting late, let’s eat. That’s not what it is. You need to learn how to sanctify the food or set it apart. One should always ask God to sanctify the food we are about to consume so it will be safe to eat. It’s also important that you be in fellowship when you pray that prayer. Or that asking for God’s sanctified food is going to be an invalid prayer request because you quenched the Holy Spirit. You grieve the Holy Spirit. You’re doing the right thing. You’re praying over the food, but you’re doing it in the wrong way. Anybody who desires to execute the Christian life must face opposition. And listen to what the Apostle Paul has to say about facing opposition. Key word I want you to look for, 2 Timothy 3.12. In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life, there it is, anybody who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. We gotta start off with that Greek word godly. What exactly does that mean? And it’s the Greek word eusebia, E-U-S-E-B-I-A, E-U-S-E-B-I-A, eusebia. That word in the Greek New Testament is a reference to being devoted to the Lord Jesus Christ. It’s what it said, godly life in Christ Jesus. There it is. It’s a reference to being devoted to the Lord Jesus Christ, which means what? means you’re dedicated to fulfilling his plan for your life. In 2 Peter 2, 9, again, listen to what Peter says. If this is so, then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly person from trials and to hold the unrighteous for punishment on the day of judgment. In this passage as well as the one I just read in 2 Timothy 3, 12, We have the same word for godly used by Peter that Paul used. It’s the word eusebia. And it’s a descriptive adverb meaning dedicated to fulfilling Christ’s plan for their lives. So if you are willing to be persecuted by Satan and his cohorts, then I will tell you what it means to be a godly person if you’re willing to be persecuted. Why am I saying that? In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, 2 Timothy 3.12. So are you willing? If you’re willing to be persecuted, then I’m going to tell you what it is. And the good news is this, that the Lord promises you he will deliver you from the trials and the traps that Satan has in store for you. He will deliver you. Again, listen to 2 Peter. The Lord knows how to rescue the godly person from trials and to hold the unrighteous for punishment. So if you’re willing to be persecuted and willing to be delivered, you need to understand these things. So what exactly is a godly person? Are you a godly person? The godly man or the godly woman is demonstrating a lifestyle of what we call in the Bible godliness. Godliness, G-O-D-L-I-N-E-S-S. Godliness or the Greek word eusebio. And it’s technically a term for the spiritual life being executed consistently. If you learn the 10 problem solving devices that make up the flat line of your soul and apply them in your life on a consistent basis, you will be a godly person. 1 Timothy 4, 7 says this. have nothing to do with godless myths and old wives’ tales. Rather, train yourself to be godly. Train yourself to be godly. Train, do you hear that? The word train is a present active imperative of the word gumnazo. Gumnazo, G-U-M-N-A-Z-O. Why do I give you these words? Because this is what it was written in. It was written in the Greek, Koine Greek New Testament, gumnazo. And train is a word that indicates vigorous exercise of the mind. Why? So you can discern good from evil. You have to be able to discern good from evil. You must train yourself to recognize the difference between good and evil. Hebrews 12, 11 says, no discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful later on. However, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it. So God allows discipline into your life to teach you, to train you. Train you to do what? Stay in fellowship and recognize sin. But listen to Hebrews 5.14. Solid food is for the mature believer who by constant use have trained, there it is again, trained themselves to distinguish good from evil. I have a question. Do you know the difference between good and evil? Have you trained yourself? I’ve just told you, the Bible says you’re going to be trained by God in discipline and you are to train yourself so that you understand the difference between good and evil. Two things in view here, first of all, is you being consistent in learning and applying Bible doctrine under a well-qualified pastor. That’s not you trying to grow spiritually by reading some daily devotion book, you know, 10 minutes a day, sitting under the oak trees contemplating heaven. Train, study, exercise all imply that if anyone wishes to be a spiritually mature believer, it’s going to require some effort on your part. Learning God’s plan must be, has to be, should be the number one top priority in your life. And if you do it, there’s great profit in both this life and in eternity. In this life, spiritual maturity gives you capacity for life, capacity for love, capacity for happiness, even in the middle of dying, as well as surpassing grace of eternal rewards. But that word godliness, true godliness, that’s a virtuous manner of life that results from being devoted to God, And the Bible says, if you love me, you will obey me, and my mandates are not grievous, 1 John 5, 3. So godliness is a virtuous manner of life, virtue, love. Do you love God? That’s virtuous. It’s the lifestyle of the believer growing in grace and relying upon God’s divine power, that’s the Holy Spirit, and the Word of God, the Bible. That’s a balance of residency in your soul. There must be the filling of the Holy Spirit, and there must be the content of the word of God in your mentality. So if you are being devoted to God, it means you have a lifestyle of the believer, growing in grace, relying upon divine power, and then applying what he learns, which is called divine viewpoint, to all circumstances in life. And if you do that, you can fulfill God’s will and plan for your life. Now, Paul identified himself as a servant of God, teaching believers how to live godly lives. He identified himself as that. Listen to what he said, Titus 1.1. Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, to further the faith of God’s elect and their knowledge of the truth, that leads to godliness. Eusebiah. Knowledge of truth leads to godliness. Remember Hebrews 5.14 says you gotta be able to distinguish between good and evil. Can you do that? What exactly is evil? It’s a synonym for satanic doctrine called human viewpoint. And it distracts you from the grace of God and opposes any biblical truth. It simply details Satan’s scheme to influence the human soul, the mentality of the soul, and thereby establish his own utopian kingdom on this earth, not God’s kingdom. So much evil sounds good, but it also breeds confusion, it breeds rebellion, and even violence among the human race. So organized religion is the most evil thing in the world. That’s why we say biblical Christianity is not a religion, it’s a relationship. Did you get it? Biblical Christianity is not a religion, it’s a relationship. The godly person, godly person, is that you? The godly person, you will avoid the lure of evil by recognizing the lie. If you can’t recognize the lie of evil, then you’re never going to learn to be a godly person, because you’ll always be subdued by the concept of evil, thinking you’re doing a right thing. Here’s a good concept. If you’re a Christian brother, let’s get some protests together and let’s go down to the local 7-Eleven and protest them selling beer, protest them selling dirty books, protest them selling candy bars. So you think that’s a good thing. So you’re going to get involved in a crusader arrogance. That’s evil. That’s very evil. That’s not the spiritual life. It’s not the Christian life. You don’t have to go there if you don’t want to. You don’t have to buy what’s in the store if you don’t want it, but you’re not supposed to go down and organize a march outside the store to try to shut it down. That’s evil. So the godly person will avoid the lure of evil by recognizing the lie of evil. Here’s one. A lot of people don’t recognize salvation by works. You want to go to heaven? Yes, sir. You know how to go to heaven? Yes, sir. Straighten up, fly right. Don’t do bad things. And, and in the end got away the good and the bad and I’ll get in heaven. Lie. That’s a lie. That’s evil. That’s Satan’s genius to try to deceive you into thinking you’re going to go to heaven because you never really did anything bad like those other people. Sin is not what sends a person to hell. Did you know that? Sin is not what sends a person to hell. What sends a person to hell is simply this. He that believes in me shall not perish but have everlasting life, and he that believeth not, the wrath of God abides on him already. What sends a person to hell is rejecting Jesus Christ as the anointed Son of God. That’s why John says this is a record. God has given to us his son, eternal life, and this life is in his son. He that has a son has life, and he that has not the son of God hath not life. So it’s not sin that sends you to the lake of fire. It’s rejection of Jesus Christ. Salvation by works is not accepting Christ. It’s you trying to earn your way. Earn your way to heaven, trying to impress God, and unfortunately the Bible says there are none that are righteous, not even one. Here’s another one, another evil, spirituality by works. I’m a good Christian, I tithe, I sing in the choir, I do all this stuff, you know, I don’t drink, I don’t smoke, I don’t cuss. I’m a spiritual person. That’s not true. Spiritual people sometimes do take a drink. Spiritual people sometimes do say curse words. Spiritual people sometimes do things you think is not Christian. It’s what you think is not Christian. That’s spirituality by works. I’m a good Christian because I do these things. Listen, good Christians may not do those things, but that’s not what makes you a good Christian. What makes you a good Christian is the filling of the Holy Spirit and the residence of Bible doctrine in your soul. But along comes the influence of humanism, the influence of socialism in our society today, All seeking to legislate morality and equality and all of it is evil, evil, evil. Social justice is no justice, I promise you. The Supreme Court of Heaven is open 24 hours a day and God can administer justice when he’s ready. So if you want to know what being a godly person means, one of my closest associates, someone I love very much, developed this simple acrostic to help us remember What is a godly person? Listen, see if it fits your lifestyle. See if you’re godly. 1G, the G of the acrostic, are you God’s child? Gotta be God’s child to be godly. And how do I become God’s child? By placing your faith in the finished work of Christ on the cross. Ephesians 2, 8 and 9 says, for it’s by grace you’ve been saved through faith, not of yourselves, that’s works, because it’s the gift of God, not by works so that no one can boast about it. Are you a child of God? If you are, you had to take in the first step to being a godly person. G-O, O, are you obedient, obedient to God’s mandates? Well, what kind of mandates? Well, staying filled with the Holy Spirit and taking in the word of God on a daily basis. You’re demanded to do that. You’re instructed to do that. Ephesians 5, 18. Do not get drunk with wine, which leads to debauchery, but instead be filled with the Spirit. That’s a mandate. You must be filled with the Spirit. So are you obedient? Are you staying in fellowship? Do you rebound when you sin consistently? And I’m not talking about waiting until you go to bed at night. I’m talking about as soon as you know you’ve committed a sin, stop. and rebound the sin right there because as soon as you sin, your sin nature assumes dominance of your mentality and the Holy Spirit is subdued and the only way to get back in fellowship is to go to God and admit the sin. So G, are you God’s child? O, are you obedient? G-O-D, D, have you developed, have you developed a daily routine of studying under that well-qualified pastor? Have you? 2 Timothy 2.15, be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. Be diligent, be approved, don’t be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. Is that you? Do you have a well-qualified pastor you study under? If you don’t, let me know, I’ll tell you how to get it. I’ll show you where you can get online and listen to a well-qualified teacher teach you the word of God. G-O-D-L, L, L, are you living? Are you living for Christ? which means are you acquiring his thinking? Philippians 2.5, let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus. Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus. In other words, learn to think like he thought. That means your mind is the center of your spiritual life. You have to learn to think like the Lord Jesus Christ thought, and that’s called divine viewpoint, not human viewpoint. Are you acquiring his thinking? And Y, G-O-D-L-Y, Y stands for you. You are a personal representative of the Lord Jesus Christ. Do you represent him to your friends, to your family, to your contacts? Listen to what Paul said about that, being a personal representative of the Lord Jesus Christ. In Galatians 2.20, I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I who live, but it’s Christ who lives in me. In the life which I now live in my flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. Is that you? Is that your verse? You are a personal representative of the Lord Jesus Christ designated to represent him to your family, your friends, and your contacts. So maybe that simple acrostic developed by my friend will help you remember that you can indeed be a godly person if you want to be. Yep, you consider yourself a godly person without having to put on some phony personality, like walking around saying sweet words, like praise the Lord, brother. Hallelujah, brother. Let me pray for you, brother. I mean, there’s so much of that garbage that goes on. Have you bought the book on how to be a godly person? Have you learned how to be a godly man or a godly woman? You know, iron sharpens iron, brother. Somebody’s always trying to pawn something off on you. If you don’t get under a well-qualified pastor who teaches you the Bible without charging you, without getting emotional, without asking you to raise your hand, come forward, join up, fess up, give up, but sit down, listen, and learn. So have you been saved? Then you’re a member of God’s royal family. Are you being obedient to the scriptures by staying in fellowship with the Holy Spirit and growing in grace? Have you developed a consistent routine of studying the word of God every day under a well qualified pastor? Are you living for the Lord Jesus Christ and not for yourself? Are you representing the Lord Jesus Christ to your family, your friends and your contacts? If you are, you’re living a life of godliness. Godliness, you, Sabiah, you’re a godly person. Has nothing to do with what you wear, has nothing to do with how you talk, has nothing to do with what you eat, has everything to do with what you think. It’s the mental attitude of virtue, love, obedient to the plan of God for your life. That’s a godly person. That’s what God’s looking for. that sense of obedience to his plan for your life. Gee, I hope you’re listening. I hope you’re learning something today. This is something that’s bugged me for a long time, hearing people talk about being a godly person, and very few people even know what godliness is, the word eusebio. Now, you’ve heard stuff other people don’t know. I don’t know what you’re going to do with it, but I hope you will apply it into your life. If you need this information, transcript let us know we can send you a copy of the transcript and i hope you’ll come back next week same time same place same station until then this is your host rick hughes saying thank you for listening to the flood line
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Thank you for listening to The Floodline with your host, Rick Hughes. If you’d like to contact Rick, please write to him at P.O. Box 100, Cropwell, Alabama, 35054, or online at www.rickhughesministries.org.
